Chapter 31: The Unscrupulous "Evil Gods"
Bean-sized raindrops pattered against the window, thunder and lightning roared outside, and before six in the evening, it was already pitch black outside.
Boom!
Thunder exploded outside the room. Inside the warm room, Su Xiao sat in front of the fireplace, throwing papers into the flames. These were confidential documents that had to be burned after reading.
"Completely clueless."
Su Xiao tossed the last document into the fire. The paper yellowed, curled, and eventually burned to ashes.
Su Xiao was gathering intelligence about the Undying King. He had a feeling that everything—the Eye Chamber, the Joshua Family, the half-bloods, and so on—might ultimately point to the Undying King.
If this Undying King was just a relatively powerful Wraith, that would be fine. But if it was something like an "Evil God," then the joke would be on him. A world like the Wraith Continent might seem unrelated to the divine side, but that wasn't the case. The energy inside Wraiths was called "Soul Power." If Su Xiao's perception was correct, it was a product of soul + energy combined. Although its function was relatively singular, its rank was higher than Chakra or Nen energy.
In a world without "miracles," once bizarre "gods" appeared, they were likely powerful energy beings from the Void or high-risk worlds.
Those energy beings in the Void had no scruples. Or rather, they were very similar to the legendary evil gods. They were willing to accept sacrifices and give small favors, gradually luring "believers" to build summoning arrays, summoning them into a certain world. Then, they would devour all the life and energy in that world.
What was even more shameless was that these guys frequently changed their disguises. Today they were the Nightmare Lord, tomorrow they might disguise themselves as the Holy Night God. In short, they called themselves whatever sounded good and harmless.
Su Xiao knew these energy beings quite well, as they were also targets for the Law-Destroying Shadows to clean up. At least in the eyes of over 80% of intelligent beings, although the Law-Destroying Shadows all looked like madmen, each more dangerous than the last, their existence was actually beneficial to most intelligent beings. At the very least, when completely hopeless, a group of madmen might appear and deal with these energy beings through brutal means.
Su Xiao's biggest worry was that the Undying King was this kind of energy being, and the Sixteen Eye Chambers were the ritual to summon them. These energy beings were generally very strong. Perhaps one would need at least Sixth Rank strength to have the qualification to fight them—note, not to defeat them, but to have the qualification.
Right now, what Su Xiao most wanted to figure out was what exactly the Undying King was. The best outcome was a Wraith, followed by a demon, and the worst outcome was an energy being from the Void. Heaven knows how far this world was from the Void.
Just as Su Xiao was sitting in front of the fireplace pondering, a chilling sensation appeared. The firelight suddenly dimmed, and the tungsten guide lamp buzzed and crackled.
Thump, thump, thump.
Bubu Wang's upper and lower teeth chattered. It used its dog paw to touch Su Xiao, its eyes filled with terror.
"Woo~"
Bubu Wang stood upright, its entire body pressed against the wall. Its usual howl was reduced to just a whimper, and its innocent little eyes seemed to say, "Master, there's a ghost!"
Indeed, a "ghost" with black mist flowing all over its body, resembling a banshee, floated in the living room. Its eye sockets were pitch black, and its facial features were terrifying.
Su Xiao looked at the suddenly appearing ghost with interest. He hadn't seen in the world introduction that this world had such things as ghosts. There were indeed plenty of Wraiths.
Su Xiao stood up, and the ghost floating a few meters away retreated some distance. Yes, this thing seemed to be afraid of Su Xiao, or rather, it was afraid of the blood energy on Su Xiao.
Seeing the ghost afraid of Su Xiao, Bubu Wang's courage visibly recovered. It secretly glared at the ghost. Bubu had watched too many horror movies, which was why it was so afraid of ghosts.
A piece of paper drifted down from the ghost. The black mist surged, and the ghost disappeared.
The moment the black mist appeared, Su Xiao understood what was going on. That familiar feeling was clearly a certain contractor using an ability. And this so-called ghost was likely a spiritual body they had imprisoned or summoned.
Crack, crack, crack.
A crystal layer formed by Proud Song wrapped around Su Xiao's hand. He had recently found the crystal layer increasingly useful. Its defense was stronger than the Counter Shield, it could be used for both offense and defense, and its generation speed was the fastest. Its mana consumption was also lower than an ordinary energy shield. The principle of this ability was actually somewhat similar to Armament Haki. No, when dealing with Demon Fruits, the crystal layer formed by Proud Song might be even more powerful than Armament Haki. When defense reaches a certain level, it generates offensive power—that point was indeed correct.
He picked up the paper from the ground. On it was only a sentence: "Councilman Jones's head, 800,000 Paradise Coins."
Obviously, someone wanted Councilman Jones dead, or needed his head, and was willing to pay 800,000 Paradise Coins. As for why they sought out Su Xiao, it was simple: Su Xiao had the identity of Legion Commander, making it easier for him to access the Empire's high levels.
Su Xiao tossed the paper into the fire. He had no interest in earning extra money at the moment, and besides, it was unknown whether the information provider was friend or foe.
Compared to this matter, whether to exchange the Codex Undying King (1/10) for Codex Merits was a more important issue. Su Xiao currently had two choices: continue to keep the Undying King Codex Card and try to collect the rest, or sell this Codex Card. If he sold it, he could exchange for the Ghost's Treasure.
If Su Xiao had been the first to complete the first ring of the promotion mission, he might have tried to accumulate more. But he wasn't. There was a contractor who completed the first ring of the promotion mission before him. That meant the other party was probably not far from exchanging for the Ghost's Treasure.
After thinking it over, Su Xiao felt that completing the Undying King's full Codex Card was too far off. It was safer to exchange for the Ghost's Treasure first.
You have gained 300 Codex Merits.
You have gained 0 Codex Merits.
Current Codex Merits: 467 points.
You have obtained the Codex Card: Ghost's Treasure. Ghost's Treasure basic reward: Soul Crystal (Complete) 5, upper limit reward: ???.
With a snap, a cigarette was lit. The Lucky King status was activated.
Yes/No to use the Codex Card: Ghost's Treasure to summon a treasure chest.
Seeing the prompt from Reincarnation Paradise, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow. As he confirmed, the Codex Card in his hand shattered, forming a black-gold treasure chest.
You have opened the Ghost's Treasure.
You have gained Soul Crystal (Complete) 7.
You have gained Soul Shackle (Consumable).
Soul Shackle
Origin: Wraith Continent
Quality: Epic
Type: Consumable
Effect: Ignores judgment. The soul chain will imprison an enemy for 15 to 0 seconds. The physical nature of the soul chain is extremely fragile. If subjected to external attack, the enemy will break free from the soul imprisonment state.
Note: If the enemy is imprisoned for more than 14 seconds, they will suffer permanent damage at the soul level, permanently reducing maximum health by 50% and weakening for 30 seconds.
Rating: 690 points (Epic item rating range: 530-700 points.)
Introduction: Do not attempt to explore the soul unless your soul is strong enough.
Selling Price: 365,000 Paradise Coins.